Of Interest

The latest Williams capital campaign kicks off next month. Here is the invitation to the (opening?) event in NYC. Amusingly (?) this e-mail was sent to all (?) alumni even though it was meant for just New York alumni, and maybe just the rich ones.

In any event, almost every section of this display is worth of comment/question. Let’s start with: What is your prediction for the target amount of money to raise? I guess $750 million.

4 Responses to “Williams Is An Idea”

Yeah, Frank — but this is the way of the world now in college fundraising, since each President basically steers one capital campaign (typically) and Presidencies last between 5-12 years nowadays …

I think 750 million is just a bit high as a guess. It will be higher than what Amherst and Williams each raised in their last campaigns — 500 million each, but still low enough to guarantee they can meet the target with plenty of room to spare. My guess is 600 million, 650 million tops, with hopes of ultimately raising close to that 750 aspirational target. It depends on how much they’ve raising in the quiet phase, which I’m sure is quite a bit considering that covered the costs of the new football facility, some of the library costs, a new dorm, massive renovations for Weston and the environmental center, building a new quad in the middle of campus, and at least a good chunk of funding, presumably, for the forthcoming science project, which is going to be costly. They’ve probably got a solid 250-300 million in hand already, I’d guess.

I wonder how Edgar Bronfman feels about the forthcoming demolition of his namesake? Perhaps the new building that will replace it will still be named Bronfman?

And 650 it is — with over half of that raised already in the quiet phase … impressive. Williams may have to start gold-plating urinals to spend all that money. Or they could just reduce tuition (the former seems more likely to happen first :)).